Steal The Night
by Liris
Summary: Harry loved when the X-Men dropped by his bar.  They were by far his most entertaining customers, the two Southerners especially.  Now, if only they could get through an evening without bloodshed... One-shot.


Hi, I'm back again, with another unrelated one-shot. Plotbunnies seem to like playing knock-door-run with me at the moment, so all I'm producing are these short one-shots. Oh well. There will be something more substantial on the way when the bunnies start to behave again. Maybe I need to re-bait the traps? If anybody feels like donating carrots, I'll be very grateful.

This is set wherever it fits; Storm is headmistress, Gambit is with the X-Men, and Rogue has her powers. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p>"It's 'cus she loves moi."<p>

Bobby raised an incredulous eyebrow in Gambit's direction. The older man's hair was vaguely green and stuck to his forehead, dripping the remains of a lime-coloured cocktail into his eyes. Gambit raised a hand to wipe the wet, sticky locks away from his face and licked his fingers, then grimaced. "Dunno how the femme can drink this; it's disgusting."

Bobby blinked and shook his head. "I don't understand. She just threw her drink in your face. How on _earth_ does that mean she loves you?"

Gambit chuckled and grabbed the napkin Harry handed to him, mopping at his damp shirt and cheeks. The barman didn't bother hiding his grin from his mutant customers; he rather enjoyed when the X-Men dropped by his bar. It livened the place up and provided the regulars with some free entertainment. Well, the regulars who'd grown accustomed to having a group of mutant superheroes drinking at the next table, anyway. The others just left when the leather-clad squad opened the door.

"It's 'cus all the women love him, ain't it?" he interjected merrily, handing another napkin to Gambit. Gambit nodded and waved a hand in his direction.

"See Iceboy? Harry's got it."

Bobby rolled his eyes and shifted to a more comfortable position on his barstool. "Of course. I should have guessed that."

Gambit dried himself off as best he could without washing the sweet-smelling drink from his hair and dropped the used napkins onto the bar. Harry grimaced at the green puddle forming on his nice polished bar and scooped them up, depositing them in a bin by his foot. When he looked up, Wolverine had joined the other two men at the bar. He grabbed a beer without being asked and handed it to his oldest customer, who nodded his thanks before turning a cocky grin on Gambit.

"Got yourself slapped, eh Cajun? About time if you ask me. Your ego was starting to stick in the doorways."

"Oh, his ego is undamaged," Bobby muttered, sipping his own beer. "He reckons she did it because she loves him."

Wolverine guffawed and shook his head. "Not my girl. She's got more sense than that."

"She has not!" Gambit exclaimed, affronted, then paused. Bobby snickered at him. He shot a venomous look at the younger man and turned back to Wolverine, who didn't bother hiding his own grin. "Haha, very funny mon ami. I mean, there's nothing wrong with Gambit. All the femmes love him. The Rogue ain't no different. She just shows it different."

Wolverine snorted. "Right. Like shoving her drink in your face, yelling at you loud enough for the entire bar to hear, then storming out of here and riding off on your motorcycle."

"Oui, like that," Gambit nodded, then paused again. "What you mean, my motorcycle?"

"Your engine sounds different to hers. It was yours she left on," Wolverine explained, tapping one finger by his ear. Gambit blanched and patted down his trench coat.

"Damn femme stole my keys!"

Bobby, Wolverine and Harry all burst out laughing. Harry recovered first, poured the gaping Cajun a shot of bourbon and slid it across the bar to him. "Sounds like a match made in heaven if you ask me," he said, not bothering to hide the fact he was eavesdropping. Gambit glared at him a little but took the drink and swallowed most of it in one gulp, scowling.

"Well, at least we know she be coming back," he muttered. "Won't leave her _baby_ behind."

Harry nodded. Rogue went nowhere without her bike and he suspected that she valued its safety more highly than most people, Gambit included. The Cajun was almost as bad about his bike; that was probably why she'd taken it. She'd enjoy watching him hunt for where she'd hidden it.

Wolverine narrowed his eyes at Gambit and pointed a finger under the Cajun's nose. From his tone, Harry was surprised it wasn't a claw in such close proximity to his throat. "You will not make another move on her, do you hear me Gumbo? I put up with you earlier cus she was holding her own, but if you annoyed her enough to make her steal your bike, it's gone far enough."

Gambit looked up at him, eyebrow cocked. "What are you, her daddy?"

"Hardly," Wolverine snorted, too used to this kind of comment to rise to the bait anymore. "I just don't wanna explain to Storm why I'm bringing your body back in pieces."

"Ooh, gonna slice moi up if i try it on again?" Gambit teased, draining the rest of his drink. Wolverine chuckled low in his throat and shook his head.

"I won't need to; she does well enough on her own. She'll rip your balls from your body with one hand."

Gambit shuddered at the imagery. Harry turned to the silent third of the party. "Not got any input Bobby?" he asked, taking the empty glass and wiping down the bar. Bobby shook his head.

"I'm not getting involved in this; I like living too much. If Rogue didn't kill me, Logan would. And if, for some reason, Logan didn't, _Storm_ would for letting this get out of hand. I'm meant to be in charge tonight."

Gambit swivelled on his stool and pinned Bobby with a look. "Why are _you_ in charge?"

"Because you and Rogue are in the same room... were in the same room. I have 'do not let them kill one another' orders."

Harry smirked at the look on Gambit's face. The Cajun was pouting. "That's not necessary."

"It is," Harry, Bobby and Logan said in unison. Gambit grimaced, then his shoulders sagged as he gave in.

"Fine. Then why Icy and not M'sieur Claws?"

Harry chortled. "Wolverine would hold you down while she killed you."

Logan chuckled his agreement and took a swig of his beer. Gambit looked around the group and sighed dramtically. "Nobody appreciates the Gambit."

"Nothing to appreciate," Rogue's voice came from the doorway. She stalked over and threw Gambit's keys at his chest. He fumbled, but managed to catch them. The grin she flicked his direction was pure evil. "Good luck finding her, sugar. I hid her real well. Even cleared up the tracks, just to make it interesting. Beer, please."

She addressed the last to Harry, who handed her the bottle with a grin. "Keeping him in line, eh?"

"Someone has to," she replied airily, sliding money across the bar and taking off towards the table at the back of the room where Kitty and Jubilee were sitting, too drunk to really notice her absence. She was immediately absorbed into the conversation, leaving Harry at the bar with Logan and Bobby, who were both grinning, and a heavily scowling Gambit.

"Give moi another bourbon," he instruced gloomily, eyeing his keys. Wolverine shook his head and put his empty bottle on the bar.

"Don't. Gumbo's had enough."

"Have not," the Cajun interrupted indignantly. "I can still see straight. Still talking and stuff. 'M not drunk, Wolvey. 'M just depressed."

Bobby rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. Harry wasn't certain, but he thought it was something about people being unnaturally attatched to their bikes. He chuckled and moved to the other end of the bar to serve some of his less entertaining customers. By the time he returned to the trio, Bobby had been replaced by Rogue, who had neglected the stool in favour of standing on the other side of Wolverine. He raised an eyebrow at her and inclined his head towards Gambit.

"Didn't think you wanted to be within grabbing distance," he said cheekily. Wolverine scowled and eyed Gambit's hands, which were currently occupied spinning an empty bottle on the bar top. Rogue shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Kitty passed out." Harry's eyes dropped to her hands, which were both gloved, and she scowled at him. "Nothing to do with me. Jubes got her drunk. Bobby's taking them home in the van, and it's no fun sitting at a table by yourself. You get all sorts of weirdo's hitting on you," she said, with a sideways look at Gambit. Gambit paused in his bottle-spinning long enough to shoot her an innocent expression. She gave a very unladylike snort and turned away.

From the other end of the bar came an angry shout and the sound of someone being punched. Two of the drunker men at that end of the room were arguing about something, though Harry couldn't tell what because of the degree of vocal slurring. Maybe he should have stopped them drinking earlier. By the looks of things, they were about to start a fight and wreck his bar. Wolvering sighed happily and rolled up his sleeves. "You mind?" he asked Harry, gesturing to the beginnings of a bar brawl. Harry laughed and shook his head.

"Try not to get blood on the woodwork; it's a bugger to clean up."

"No promises," Logan muttered before taking off to join in. Rogue rolled her eyes and finished her beer, pushing the empty bottle towards Harry. He scooped it up.

"Another?"

She shook her head, her attention half on the ridiculously unfair fight on the other side of the room and half on Gambit, who had started staring at her chest the instant Logan moved. "Better not, Harry. I've got a job in the morning, and I don't wanna start with a hangover."

Harry nodded. He'd known the X-Men long enough to know that a 'job' was some kind of undercover mission that was likely dangerous and probably going to result in somebody getting arrested. He took the liberty of patting her hand tenderly. "Good luck."

She nodded, and Harry turned away to study the fight. He didn't need to phone for an ambulance yet, but if Logan kept doing that with his knee, that would change shortly. He sighed and reached for the phone. It was behind him, under the bar close to Gambit. It was only that action that let him know Rogue and Gambit were talking. Not talking like they'd been doing earlier (which was more along the lines of shouting obsenities than civilised conversation), but using low voices so only the other could hear. Harry pretended to be engrossed in the fight. He probably shoudn't eavesdrop on the pair, but they were by far the most entertainment he'd gotten all week. Also, they were now unsupervised, and privately he thought they were more likely to spill blood than Wolverine in the brawl.

"I don't like this, chere," Gambit whispered to her. The ghost of a smile passed over her features and she replied in the softest tone Harry had ever heard her use.

"I know, sugar, I don't either, but I have to go. I'm the only one who knows the area."

Gambit scowled and shook his head. "There's this thing; it's called a map."

She laughed quietly and her hand twitched in his direction, as though she was trying not to reach out to him. "Map's don't show everything sugar; you know that better than anybody."

"Still don't see why I can't go with you, at least."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Try suggesting it to Storm or Logan, I dare you. You know why they'll think you wanna come."

"We could tell them about us..." he ventured hopefully. Rogue shook her head.

"You know we can't. Logan would disembowl you the instant he knew we're dating, and everybody else would be asking constant questions about how we 'do it'," she growled, curling one hand into a loose fist. Gambit reached over and rested his hand on top, and she slowly relaxed under his coaxing. Harry realised his jaw had dropped and quickly pretended to be dialing somebody. They didn't react, so he figured he'd gotten away with it and continued to listen in. This was even better than he'd thought.

"Ma cherie, I don't care about any of that. M'sieur Claws won't do anything to moi if you tell him not to," Rogue snorted, interrupting him. He glared at her to shut her up and continued. "You won't let Wolvey hurt moi, and the others can ask all they like. Ain't none of their business."

He risked using his grip on her hand to tug her closer to him. Harry made an extra effort to look like he was judging the fight.

"'S up to you when you tell them about your control, chere. I don't mind all this sneaking around; comes natural, oui?" he said with a grin, then turned serious again. He turned in his seat and took her by both hands. "I just wanna tell the world that I'm in love with the most amazing woman ever."

Harry dropped the phone. He scrambled onto the floor to grab it, and counted himself lucky that neither X-Man seemed to notice. He returned to earshot just in time to hear Rogue whisper "I love you too." He managed not to drop the phone again, but was forced to wipe his fingers against his jeans as an excuse for his clumsiness. Gambit kissed her fingers and released his hold on her, spinning back to face the bar. Rogue returned to her previous position also, and Harry quickly shifted to get a better view of Logan, who currently had a man bigger than himself in a headlock while he punched somebody else in the nose. Harry shook his head. The man was a menace.

"You go on ahead," Gambit muttered from the side of his mouth, drawing the barkeep's attention to the fact that the couple weren't finished. "I'll play the drunk for a few minutes more then leave to search for my bike. Why you had to steal her..."

Rogue laughed. "You had that coming. If you grab my ass in public again I'll absorb you and find all the sordid fantasies floating around in your head."

"Go ahead," he grinned at her. "You can tell moi which ones you like while you're at it."

"I'm pretty sure Logan won't like any of them," she retorted smugly, watching Gambit's wince.

"Fine, point taken," he said grumpily. "Your ass is safe in public. The instant I get you alone, however..."

She shoved him to shut him up. He grinned at her; she rolled her eyes. "I took the bike 'cus it gives you an excuse to go missing all night. I hid it _really well_," she added at the wide-eyed look he wore. He stammered twice before finding his voice.

"All night?" he croaked. She nodded, looking very pleased with herself.

"I'll have to take my bike back to the mansion, but I'll sneak out the usual way and meet you in an hour or so. Logan and Bobby will tell them that you're off on a bike-hunt, and nobody's stupid enough to go into my room without permission."

"Logan..."

"My scent's recent enough to throw him off so long as we're back before he gets up."

Gambit blinked at her, an expression of awe on his face. "You bought us an entire night."

She nodded, eyes lidded, and risked a quick peck to his cheek. "Close your mouth, sug, you're catching flies. Anybody'd think you'd never spent the night with a woman before."

His jaw snapped shut and he shook his head at her teasing. "Fine, mock the thief. I'm just excited. We've never been able to steal a whole night before."

"We won't get one now if we don't get a move on. I'm leaving, see you in a bit."

She said goodbye to Harry in a normal tone. Harry jumped, startled, and waved hastily. Gambit was slouched over again, playing with his bottle. He waited until the door swung shut behind her, then looked up and gestured Harry closer. Harry moved gingerly. There was a spark in those red eyes that he didn't much like.

"Tell anybody what you overheard, and I'll set Rogue on you," Gambit warned. Harry's eyes went wide, and Gambit chuckled. "You need to be sneakier if you're gonna eavesdrop on a master thief, mon ami. Not dropping the phone would have been a good start." Harry nodded.

"I won't tell. Congratulations, by the way," he said. Gambit's eyes lit up and he grinned.

"Merci, mon ami."

"How long?"

"Six months. The others don't know, and Roguey don't wanna tell them yet, so..."

"I got it, don't worry. My lips are sealed."

"Bon," Gambit nodded, glancing towards the fight. It was winding down now; more than half of the would-be assailants had been forced to sit down due to fatigue. Gambit nodded his head to the still-going Wolverine and pulled a fifty from his wallet. He slid it over the bar to Harry. "If you could keep M'sieur Stabby busy long enough for moi to get away a bit, I'd be grateful. Don't need him following moi and finding out after all this. I wanna live the whole of tonight. Got big plans."

Harry nodded and hoped Gambit wasn't about to share these plans. He admitted to being a gossip, but the knowledge that Gambit and Rogue would be sharing the night was quite enough for him to be getting on with. He didn't want to try lying to Logan with explicit images in his head. Luckily for him, Gambit seemed to think he'd waited long enough after Rogue's departure and pushed himself to his feet, swaying a little and winking at Harry.

"Better go find my bike," he said, loud enough for Logan to hear. "Poor baby, all alone out there," he continued, lowering his voice until he was muttering as he left the bar. Harry grinned and pulled a rag from his belt, wiping down the bar where the couple had been sitting until it shone again. The fight wound down while he was doing that, and the next time he looked up most of his clientele had left and Wolverine was sat opposite him nursing another beer. Harry wasn't sure where the mutant had gotten it, and he wasn't about to ask either.

"Nobody bled," the X-Man said when Harry noticed him. Harry nodded and leant against the bar on his side, eyeing those who remained. Nobody looked like they needed an ambulance, so he returned the phone to its resting place. Wolverine took a swig of his beer. "Where'd that pair go?"

Harry returned to polishing the bar so he wouldn't have to look Wolverine in the eye. "Rogue went home, Gambit stumbled off to find where she's hidden his beloved bike."

Logan nodded, took another swig and sat back, a knowing glint in his eye. "And will Rogue still be at the mansion when I get back?"

Harry paused, shocked, then quickly started scrubbing again, but he'd given Logan his answer. The mutant chuckled low in his throat. "Those two aren't as sneaky as they think. Damn noisy some nights. For a career thief, Gambit can be bloody clumsy."

Harry stopped polishing and looked up and the grin on Logan's face. "How long have you known?"

"Since it started," the other man answered with a shrug. "Rogue's even clumsier than Gumbo, especially when they first started sneaking around."

"How do they...?"

Logan raised an eyebrow at the half-mumbled question, then smirked. "Rogue's got partial control. She don't wanna say nothing 'til she can touch all the time, but she can push it back long enough to play with loverboy for a few hours. Don't reckon she'll quite manage all night though. Got a feeling Gambit'll be sleeping in tomorrow. Not that getting absorbed'll deter him any." Logan shrugged and took another swig of his beer. "'S happened before, few times, and he's still around. She needs that."

"You're not mad?" Harry asked, more for Gambit's sake than his own. That had seemed to be one of the couple's main concerns, after all. Logan chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah. He treats her right, she's happy, and I've known he's in love with her longer than he has. Good luck to them."

"So, why not say something? They wouldn't have to sneak around so much then."

Wolverine grinned and shook his head, downing the rest of the beer and standing. "And ruin my reputation?" he quipped. Harry was startled into laughter. Logan headed towards the door, throwing a casual "Night, Harry," over his shoulder. Harry leaned on the bar and shook his head. He'd never understand the way these mutant's minds worked, but it made for some fine entertainment.


End file.
